Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Brady deal impact on Flacco
By Tim Kavanagh
After the report from Peter King of Sports Illustrated that the New England Patriots and QB Tom Brady had agreed to a three-year, $27 million extension that would keep him with the club through his age-40 season, many pondered what impact this would have, both on the Pats and around the league.
For New England, it'll give them some additional cap space over the next two seasons, which boosts their chances of re-signing internal free agents, and luring some outsiders as well. As for the rest of the league, the initial thought was that the agents for Joe Flacco, Tony Romo, Jay Cutler and Matt Ryan (all due for a new deal) would not be too happy about the situation.
In the case of Flacco, Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun doesn't believe much will change. Joe Linta, Flacco's agent, still wants his client to be the top-paid QB in the league (Drew Brees is currently No. 1, with an average annual value on his pact of $20 million).
The one difference is that the Ravens are now playing with different numbers in terms of the franchise tag tenders: the exclusive franchise tag (which would prevent other teams from negotiating with Flacco) will now be $19.63 million (down from $20.46 million), while the non-exclusive tag is now $14.6 million. While the overall value of a contract for Flacco may not be impacted too much, the Pats did make the Ravens' tag decision a little easier.
